When The Whole World Reached Out For One Sweet Breathe Of Hollywood Glamour When It Counted-In Honor Of The Commemoration of 100th Birthday Of Rita Hayworth- A Different Look At The Women Question –Once Again, On Jumping Through Hoops- Rita Hayworth’s “The Lady From Shanghai”- Hey, She Ain’t No Lady

When The Whole World Reached Out For One Sweet Breathe Of Hollywood Glamour When It Counted-In Honor Of The Commemoration of 100^th Birthday Of Rita Hayworth- A Different Look At The Women Question –Once Again, On Jumping Through Hoops- Rita Hayworth’s “The Lady From Shanghai”- Hey, She Ain’t No Lady

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for The Lady From Shanghai.

DVD Review

The Lady From Shanghai, Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Columbia Pictures, 1948

Recently I reviewed Rita Hayworth’s classic femme fatale performance in Gilda in this space after some delay from the time of watching, on doctor’s advice, until such time as my blood pressure when down enough to safety do the film justice. At the end of that review I nevertheless had to cut it short because I could definitely feel that old pressure rising again. But I am okay now and can review a later Hayworth femme fatale effort, The Lady From Shanghia. Old Rita still has them (and me) jumping through hoops but I am not worrying about my blood pressure on this one.

Let me repeat some of that previous Gilda review to make sure that we are all on the same page here:

“….But enough of introductory justification, let us get to the heart of the matter- a film review of 1940s “hot” (you can see where I am going with this already) film star Rita Hayworth in her most famous film, the film noir classic, Gilda, and the men, the legions of men in the film and in the audience, including this writer, whom she had (or could have had in my case) jumping through hoops (and much more).

Now the last time that devilishly sweet-smiling, buttery-voiced, long-legged, big-haired, been around the block and is still standing, femme fatale Rita’s name came up for this writer was when her photograph, just her big blow-up photo nothing more, was used to cover (literally) actor Tim Robbins’ escape route in the film, The Shawshank Redemption. Of course, that flash got me to thinking about the film Gilda and there you have it. So naturally I had to see the thing, again. I have had to wait until now though to write this little commentary until my doctor said that I my blood pressure went down a little.”

And seeing Gilda of course let to this review. Know that the points made in the quoted commentary still stands here, except that she, Rita that is, is a blonde femme fatale this time. And know not all femme fatales are born equal. Some like Gilda are capable of good and some like the lady from Shanghai here are not.


Here are the high points of the plot quickly. Down and out seaman “Black Irish” O’ Hara (Orson Welles) hits New York looking for… something. And he finds it without much trouble, although in the end it will be nothing but trouble. Enter Elsa (Rita Hayworth) who just happens to be slumming on a horse and buggy ride in Central Park and who, as fate would have it, a not uncommon fate at least in Central Park, is waylaid by some hooligans. Black Irish comes to the rescue and is immediately smitten. Black Irish, please, please she is poison, even I can tell that. But, no, old Blackie is bound and determined to pursue this deadly course, also a not uncommon occurrence when one is smitten.

Of course problem number one is that said Elsa is married, married to a great criminal lawyer, Arthur Bannister (played by Everett Sloane) with some serious physical disabilities and a perverse mental make-up that has old Elsa fed up. Problem number two is that Elsa and said hubby are going on a long sea voyage via the Panama Canal to their home port ‘Frisco on their yacht. Hey, Blackie, you’re a sailor why don’t you come along as a crew member. Okay Blackie, second chance, please, please don’t do it. Damn, he signs on. From there you know he is a goner.

Why? Well, up front old Arthur has a partner, Grisby, who is also under Elsa’s spell, at least enough to try to assist her in getting rid of the old goat by any means necessary. I don’t have to draw you a diagram on that proposition. The rest of the plot centers on making Blackie the fall guy for the murder of old Arthur. But as such things do, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry. Old Grisby winds up dead, Blackie winds up framed for murder and, naturally, Arthur feels duty-bound to defend him. Of course such a defense has a double-edge as Blackie will soon enough find out. And will find out soon enough as well that not all femme fatales are on the level when the heat is turned up. Love will only take you so far though, and then justice, rough justice anyway has to come into play. Still, if you ask Blackie in the sober light of day whether he would do it again, hell, you know the answer. Black Irish is just another of old Rita’s hoopsters. Stand in line brother.

Okay, now for the finale. How does this film, this great director Orson Welles’ film, compare with Gilda? Well…let’s say I’m partial to redheads, if I have a choice. And I am partial to “good” femme fatales with a little heart, as well. Especially if they can dance, strum a guitar, sing (okay, lip synch) and give that look (you know that look, right?) like old Rita did in Gilda. But, I am a man of the ocean so maybe, just maybe, I would sign on for that cruise. Hey, I never said I wasn’t just another Rita hoopster. But this time my blood pressure is okay at the end.

When The Whole World Reached Out For One Sweet Breathe Of Hollywood Glamour When It Counted-In Honor Of The Commemoration of 100th Birthday Of Rita Hayworth-Out In The Tex-Mex Be-Bop Night- Ex-Rita Husband Orson Welles’ “ Touch Of Evil"

When The Whole World Reached Out For One Sweet Breathe Of Hollywood Glamour When It Counted-In Honor Of The Commemoration of 100^th Birthday Of Rita Hayworth-Out In The Tex-Mex Be-Bop Night- Ex-Rita Husband Orson Welles’ “ Touch Of Evil"

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.

DVD Review

Touch Of Evil, Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, directed by Orson Welles, 1957

Put the blame on Mame. Or rather on the quintessential 1940s film star Rita Hayworth for her role in the 1946 film noir classic as the good femme fatale in Gilda. I was so smitten by Ms. Hayworth’s performance that I had to run out and get several other of her films. First place amount those works was her bad (very bad, indeed) femme fatale role in The Lady From Shang-hai, directed by the director of the film under review, Orson Welles. I might add that Welles also co-starred in that film as the roustabout sailor who also was very smitten by Rita’s charms, Irish Blackie. (See I am not the only one who was taken in by Ms. Hayworth’s charms).

In this film, Touch Of Evil, old beanbag (and I am being kind about his girth) star Orson Welles(Sheriff Hank Quinlan) is very much smitten as well, but not by any such sensible thing as being smitten by a beautiful dame but is rather in thrall to small time Tex-Mex border police power and a rather overblown sense of what passes for “justice”, his rough and tumble justice, as meted out in the hinterlands. The plot line is rather straight forward. Old Orson has to investigate what turns out to be a second-rate romantic variant of murder for hire of a well-known Texas citizen ( along with his, ah,lady friend) who is murdered when his car is blown up by a planned bomb, said bomb planted on the Mexican side of the border. Enter newlywed ace Mexican honest cop Miguel Vargas played by Charlton Heston (gee, I didn't know he was Mexican he could have fooled me with that makeup)just married to a very fetching gringa, played by Janet Leigh. But duty calls, at least the script call for it, especially when Mike becomes wary, very wary of Orson’s investigative techniques which include putting the “frame” on the nearest Mexican national that he can get his hands on. The rest of the film is highlighted by the struggle by Orson to cover up his dirty work and by Charlton to expose Orson as just another red-necked gringo sheriff with no respect for third world sensibilities.

The plot may be simple, and the political incorrectness by the gringos, led by Orson, may be way too obviously incorrect for today’s audiences but this is a classic Welles break-out of a film. Both the direction that, by the end, forces you to almost smell the evil of small town, last of the old frontier life, down in gringo good-time borderland Texas in the 1950s and by Welles’ performance where you can almost smell the corrupted human flesh as it loses its relationship to any rational view of the world are what makes this a late noir classic. Add in the always engrossing close-up black and white photography that is a Welles hallmark and that enhances the grittiness of the scenes and highlights the sometimes startling grotesqueness of the human animal when held under a microscope and there you have it. Thanks, Rita.

From the Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin-The Enemy Within- Orson Welles’ “The Stranger”

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Orson Welles’ The Stranger.

DVD Review

The Stranger, starring Orson Welles, Loretta Young, Edward G. Robinson, directed by Orson Welles, RKO Pictures, 1946

The was a plethora of films made in the 1940s and 1950s, mainly suspense thrillers, on the subject of Nazis who may have escaped the Allied dragnet at the end of World War II (not including those Nazis whom those self-same Allies “turned” as the red scare cold war night descended on the world) and who, by hook or by crook found safe haven outside of Europe. Waiting, waiting patiently or impatiently, or feverishly plotting as the case may be, for the return of the glory days. The film under review, the Orson Welles-directed The Stranger falls under that former category.

Here Welles himself, as Professor Rankin, is disguised as a small town America college professor with a distinct predilection for clock towers and is one closet Nazi waiting patiently for those big days ahead. Except that his world turned unexpectedly nasty when one doggedly persistent anti-Nazi hunter played by Edward G. Robinson (last seen in this space as Johnny Rico slapping girls and old geezers around in front of Humphrey Bogart, a definite no-no, in Key Largo) is ready to move might and main to hunt him down.

For a future fuerher though the good professor is something of a bumbler and easy prey for any half-bright professional anti-Nazi hunter. The minute he received news from back home via an unstable intermediary he precedes to murder said messenger setting off a series of events that only drag him down ever more quickly. And not just him but almost his trusting new wife (played by Loretta Young) who takes an extraordinary long time to see that the good professor is a wrong gee, a dead wrong gee. But the good professor will get his just desserts in the end, no question. And no self-respecting anti-Nazi will cry a tear over his fate.

**Not Ready For Prime Time Class Struggle- Has Anybody Seen Harry Lyme?-Orson Welles “The Third Man”

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of the introduction to The Third Man, complete with zither music.
DVD Review

The Third Man, Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, directed by Carol Reed, based on a story by Graham Greene, 1948

Blame it on Rita (Rita Hayworth that is) No, not this time. This time blame it on Orson Welles. Let me explain. I started out earlier this year viewing (or, more correctly, re-viewing) many of the classic film noir films of the 1940s. In the process I was smitten, very smitten, by Ms. Hayworth’s performance in her 1946 classic femme fatale role, Gilda, where she dances, strums and sings (okay, okay lip synch’s) her way through the film all while looking, ah, beautiful, ravishing, alluringly beautiful. Needless to say I needed to investigate this issue more, cinematically that is, and another noir classic Lady From Shang-hai naturally came up. And just as naturally, Orson Welles, as the smitten, very smitten Irish Blackie (join the line, brother) came up. So then I went off on to that Wellesian tangent and Touch Of Evil fell into place and then here to The Third Man. Simple, right?

As the headline connotes this one is about the present whereabouts of one American expatriate, Harry Lyme (Orson Welles, of course), in immediate post-World War II four zone-occupied Vienna American, British, French and Russian) and his nefarious dealings in the flourishing black market, including vitally needed but watered-down drugs. The heat is on and so he needs alibis, and better a disappearance, staged or otherwise. The plot is driven, relentlessly so at times, by American friend and writer, Holly Martin’s (Joseph Cotton) search for his old friend, whether he is dead or alive. Old Harry, as is his wont, though makes few appearances here until near the end when he is running the sewers like the rat he is dodging the police of those four occupying nations. Director Carol Reed has caught the banal, barren sense of war-torn, bombed out Vienna, and the faces of its inhabitants cinematically in a way that author Graham Greene must have appreciated in this early Cold War thriller. Oh, ya, I hope you like zither music because you are going to hear more than you probably ever heard before at one time.